Patron Load: Known Issues & Enhacements
Enhancements
Configuration to specify email type included in export – e.g., school email, preferred email
Better mapping for non-state-side employees
Expiration dates for faculty/staff, when known (particularly for visiting scholars)
Known issues
| # | Description | Resolution | Status | Expected Resolution Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Alma continuing to re-processes old records | Update Alma FTP profile to use the new PeopleSoft FTP server. This occurs if your campus has already completed the PeopleSoft "split," but Alma is pointed at the old PeopleSoft FTP server. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 11 | Bad student data | Fixed in MP 27. Skip students with multiple plans that have the same sequence. Skip students that show enrollment and have a future effective dated program stack. | FIXED | Dec 2018 |
| 10 | Employee separation date incorrectly formatted | Fixed in MP 25. The format for the date has been. | FIXED | June 2017 |
| 9 | User Rejected: missing a mandatory field: statistical category | Fixed in MP 25. The PS code assumes everyone should have a Dept/Major, but retirees and visiting scholars don't, so it creates a statistical category but doesn't supply a value, which Alma (rightly) complains is illegal. So the fix is just to not include that category at all for those user types. | FIXED | June 2017 |
| 8 | Invalid byte 1 of 1-byte UTF-8 sequence | Fxed in the MP 24. PS Code outputs the file non-explicitly as UTF-8 encoding. Should be a CMS fix, to set UTF-8 as charset when opening the file for writing. In the meantime, can fix individual records with potential UTF-8 encoding problems. | FIXED | Feb 2017 |
| 7 | Identifier of type OTHER_ID_2 and value <some_value> is already taken AcrossInstitution. | Caused by duplicate Alma records. Resolution: delete one of the records in Alma. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 6 | Mandatory field is missing: User identifier value | Missing identifier. Resolution: Fix in PeopleSoft. User identifier segment might look something like this: <user_identifiers> | KNOWN FIX | |
| 5 | Barcode (if different from EmplID) not included in patron load | If your campus uses a barcode value as an additional identifier, your PeopleSoft administrator will need to add a COMR exception to the Alma PeopleSoft integration provided by the Chancellor's Office to put barcode values into the user extract. Example XML for each user: <user_identifiers> ..... <user_identifier segment_type="External"> .... </user_identifiers> CSUN has developed a COMR exception for this, though the barcode is actually not stored in PeopleSoft but rather algorithmically generated based on emplID. Contact Sondra Baier (sondra.baier at csun.edu) at CSUN for more information and example code. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 4 | Network login ID (if different from EmplID) not included in patron load | If your campus uses a network login name that you need stored in Alma for authentication purposes (e.g., for EZProxy or ILLiad scripts which send login values to the Alma User API to check Alma user record characteristics/active status/user group type), this data is not by default pulled from PeopleSoft. Your PeopleSoft administrator will need to add a COMR exception to the Alma PeopleSoft integration provided by the Chancellor's Office to put network user identifier values into the user extract. Example XML for each user: <user_identifiers> .... <user_identifier segment_type="External"> ..... </user_identifiers> CSUN has developed a COMR exception for this. Contact Sondra Baier (sondra.baier at csun.edu) at CSUN for more information and example code. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 3 | PeopleSoft Program / Career Code not included in patron load as statistical category | While Dept/major is included in the default program from the Chancellor's Office, PeopleSoft 'career' or program is not. If you wish to include this data (for example, to identify doctoral students), your PeopleSoft administrator will need to add a COMR exception to the Alma PeopleSoft integration provided by the Chancellor's Office. Example XML for each user: <user_statistics> .... <user_statistic segment_type="External"> ... </user_statistics> CSUN has developed a COMR exception for this. Contact Sondra Baier (sondra.baier at csun.edu) at CSUN for more information and example code. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 2 | Scheduled syncing does not run | You can run a manual import, but not a scheduled import/sync. This is to be expected in the test phase, as all scheduled jobs are disabled in Alma, so only manual running is possible until cutover. | KNOWN FIX | |
| 1 | User group loaded into user record as "not listed" (e.g., "TA/GA (not listed)") | User groups must be defined in both the User Group table and the User Record Type/User Group table (under User Management Configuration > User Details > User Record Type/User Group). You must indicate each User Group and whether users of that group can be designated as Public, Staff, Contact, or all three. | KNOWN FIX |